Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) from 2006 to 2010. Yanukovych was removed from the presidency during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, which followed months of protests against him.<!--more detail is in the paragraphs below--> Since then, he has lived in exile in Russia.
Yanukovych was a member of the pro-Russian Party of Regions. Before entering national politics, Yanukovych was the governor of his native Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002. He was simultaneously the chairman of the oblast's legislature from 1999 to 2001. He first ran for president in the 2004 election, where he was declared the winner against Viktor Yushchenko. However, allegations of electoral fraud and voter intimidation caused widespread protests, in what became known as the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian Supreme Court nullified the election and ordered a rerun, which Yanukovych lost to Yushchenko. Yanukovych ran for president again in 2010, this time beating Yulia Tymoshenko in an election deemed free and fair by international observers.
Yanukovych stood for economic modernisation, greater economic ties with the EU, and military non-alignment. However, his years in power saw what analysts described as democratic backsliding, which included the jailing of Tymoshenko, a decline in press freedom Ukraine's parliament had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement. This sparked massive protests against him, known as the Euromaidan. The unrest peaked in February 2014, when almost 100 protesters were killed by government forces. An agreement was signed by Yanukovych and the opposition on 21 February 2014, but he secretly fled the capital that evening. The next day, Ukraine's parliament voted to remove him and schedule early elections on the grounds that he had withdrawn from his constitutional duties. Some of his own party voted for his removal.
Ukraine's new government issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych, accusing him of responsibility for the killing of protesters. He fled to Russia, claiming to still be the head of state. In 2019, he was sentenced in absentia to a thirteen-year prison term for high treason by a Ukrainian court. In polling conducted since he left office, Yanukovych has ranked as one of the worst presidents in Ukrainian history. Yanukovych has also given his name to a collective term for blunders made by Ukrainian politicians: Yanukisms.
Early life and career
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych was born on 9 July 1950 in Zhukovka, a village near the city of Yenakiieve in the Donetsk Oblast in the Ukrainian part of the Donbas. At the time, Ukraine, known by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Of his childhood, he has written: "My childhood was difficult and hungry. I grew up without my mother, who died when I was two. I went around bare-footed on the streets. I had to fight for myself every day.
Yanukovych is of Russian, Polish and Belarusian descent. Yanukovych is a surname of Belarusian origin, Yanuk being a derivative of the Catholic name Yan ("John"). His mother was a Russian nurse and his father, Fyodor Yanukovych, was a Polish-Belarusian locomotive-driver, originally from in the Dokshytsy Raion of the Vitebsk Region which is in present-day Belarus. On various occasions, Yanukovych's family has been dogged by accusations that Fyodor Yanukovych was a member of the Schutzmannschaft during World War II, in particular claims by members of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, which included documents from the NKVD supposedly revealing his involvement with the Schutzmannschaft. However, it has also been stated by residents of Yanuki that Yanukovych's family left for the Donbas before 1917, and that the collaborator Fyodor Yanukovych was an unrelated individual. Others, particularly members of the Party of Regions, have claimed that the documents were a falsehood with the intention of disparaging Yanukovych ahead of elections.
In 1971, Yanukovych married Lyudmyla Nastenko a niece of Yenakiyeve city judge Oleksandr Sazhyn.
In July 1974, Yanukovych enrolled at the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute. In 1976, as a second-year student, he was promoted to director of a trucking division within the Ordzhonikidzeugol coal-mining company. His appointment as the chief manager marked the start of his managerial career as a regional transport executive. He held various positions in transport companies in Yenakiieve and Donetsk until 1996. On 8 June 1970 he was convicted for a second time on charges of assault. He was sentenced to two years of imprisonment and did not appeal the verdict. Decades later, Yanukovych characterised his arrests and imprisonment as "mistakes of youth".
On 27 December 1978 both of Yanukovych's convictions were overturned by the Donetsk Regional Court at the initiative of judge Vitaliy Boiko, after an appeal by Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy, then deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In 2005 deputy head prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast initiated a proceeding concerning possible falsification of documents confirming the overturn of Yanukovych's convictions, however in 2006 it was abandoned. According to a local judge, the originals of documents concerning Yanukovych's convictions went missing from the Yenakieve court between 1989 and 2000 due to "insufficient security measures".
In October 2004, Ukrainian deputy Hryhoriy Omelchenko accused Yanukovych of having been a member of "a group of individuals who brutally beat and raped a woman, but bought off the victim and the criminal case was closed". The press-service of the Ukrainian Cabinet asserted that Yanukovych suffered for the attempt to defend a girl from hooligans.
Political career: 1996–2010
Head of Donetsk Oblast Administration (1997-2002)
Yanukovych's political career began when he was appointed as a Vice-Head of Donetsk Oblast Administration in August 1996. On 14 May 1997, he was appointed as the Head of the Administration (i.e. Governor). Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov was widely considered to have played a key role in Yanukovych's appointment as governor. During his tenure in Donetsk, local business groups, dominated by the Industrial Union of Donbas, managed to concentrate under their control the entire production chain of the region's coal and metal industries, as well as energy production. In June 1998 Yanukovych was elected member of Donetsk Oblast Council.
thumb|left|Yanukovych with [[Mayor of Donetsk|Donetsk mayor Volodymyr Rybak (left) during his term as regional governor]]
In 2001 Yanukovych became a member of the newly created Party of Regions, which was considered to represent the interests of the "Donetsk Clan". Yanukovych was claimed to have played a key role in the privatization of Alchevsk Metallurgical Complex, during which representatives of "Donetsk Clan" and "Dnipropetrovsk Mafia" received equal shares of the enterprise. As a result of the vote, Donetsk Oblast became the only region of Ukraine, where the pro-government party won the election amid claims of numerous violations of electoral process.
Prime Minister (2002–2004)
President Leonid Kuchma appointed Yanukovych to the post of prime minister following Anatoliy Kinakh's resignation. Yanukovych began his term as prime minister on 21 November 2002 following a 234-vote confirmation in the Ukrainian parliament, eight more than needed. According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Yanukovych's appointment was part of Kuchma's plan to establish a counterweight to the powerful head of his administration, Viktor Medvedchuk. Opposition politicians considered Yanukovych's government to be the result of a compromise between the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv oligarchic clans. On his post Yanukovych supported the expansion of authority of the executive branch.
thumb|Yanukovych during a meeting with [[European Commission president Romano Prodi in 2003]]
During the first year of Yanukovych's premiership, Ukraine's population suffered from rising bread and grain prices, which were blamed on falsified data about the previous year's harvest and led to what was described as the country's worst food crisis since independence 12 years earlier. In order to combat inflation, the cabinet allocated 400 million hryvnias to be spent on grain imports. Yanukovych himself called the rise of prices "artificial" and demand from regional governors to take measures in order to limit it. In 2003 his government established a two-year moratorium on taxation benefits. Some experts blamed Yanukovych's cabinet of reversing market reforms and returning to the practices of market intervention, subsidies and price controls.
In foreign affairs, Yanukovych's cabinet was considered to be politically close to Russia, promoting the creation of the Single Economic Space, but at the same time declared support for Ukrainian membership in the European Union. Although Yanukovych's parliamentary coalition was not supporting Ukrainian membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), his cabinet agreed to the commission of Ukrainian troops to the Iraq War in support of the United States' war on terrorism. Yanukovych also supported Ukraine's membership in the World Trade Organization. During the Tuzla Island crisis in 2003, Yanukovych held negotiations with Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, as a result of which an agreement was reached to remove Ukrainian border guards from the island in exchange for Russia stopping the construction of its dam. However, Yanukovych later denied that removal of border troops was part of the agreement, and Ukrainian guards remained on the island.
2004 presidential campaign
thumb|Percentage of total national vote for Yanukovych in the final round of the 2004 presidential election
In 2004, as the prime minister, Yanukovych participated in the controversial Ukrainian presidential election as the candidate of the ruling coalition. Yanukovych's candidacy was officially approved on 4 July 2004 by a congress involving representatives of the Party of Regions, Labour Ukraine and Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), with Labour Ukraine leader Serhiy Tihipko being appointed to head his election headquarters. Volodymyr Lytvyn's People's Agrarian Party, Valeriy Pustovoitenko's People's Democratic Party, Heorhiy Kirpa's Revival, as well as Spravedlyvist, Russian Bloc and several other minor parties later issued their own declarations in support of Yanukovych's candidacy.
His nomination was approved by president Leonid Kuchma.
Yanukovych's main base of support emerged from the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, which favored close ties with neighbouring Russia. He also supported the introduction of double citizenship with Russia and promoted church unification.
According to the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Yanukovych's presidential campaign was actively supported by government-owned media, giving him an unfair advantage over other candidates. Yanukovych was also openly supported by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan. Russian political scientist Gleb Pavlovsky, who had previously cooperated with Kuchma's administration, took part in his presidential campaign. A number of popular performers, including Iosif Kobzon, Yan Tabachnik, Taisia Povaliy, Natasha Korolyova and Filipp Kirkorov took part in concerts in support of Yanukovych. His candidacy was openly endorsed by Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, while Russian president Vladimir Putin wished Yanukovych "success" in the elction.
thumb|Yanukovych (sitting on the right) attending talks with opposition representatives during the Orange Revolution in Kyiv
In the first round of voting held on 31 October 2004, Yanukovych took second place with 39.3 percent of the votes to opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko with 39.8 percent. Because no candidate passed the 50 percent threshold, a second round of voting was scheduled. In the second round of the election, Yanukovych was initially declared the winner, with Putin congratulating him with "solid victory" in a telephone call. However, the legitimacy of the election was questioned by Ukrainians, international organizations, and foreign governments following allegations of electoral fraud. The resulting widespread protests became known as the Orange Revolution. The second round of the election was subsequently annulled by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, and in the repeated run-off, Yanukovych lost to Yushchenko with 44.2 percent to Yushchenko's 51.9 percent.
Following his electoral defeat in 2004, Yanukovych led the main opposition party against the Tymoshenko government made up of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, and Oleksandr Moroz's Socialist Party. This government was marred by growing conflict between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko. Yanukovych's Party of Regions support allowed for the establishment of Yuriy Yekhanurov's government in late 2005.
In 2005, the Party of Regions signed a collaboration agreement with the Russian political party United Russia. In 2008, Yanukovych spoke at a congress of the United Russia party.
Return to government
2006 election
Following the resignation of his head of administration Oleksandr Zinchenko, president Yushchenko dismissed Yulia Tymoshenko from the post of Prime Minister and appointed Yuriy Yekhanurov as head of a technocratic government which acted until the new parliamentary election.
In January 2006, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine started an official investigation of the allegedly false acquittal of the criminal convictions which Yanukovych received in his youth. Yuriy Lutsenko, the head of the ministry, announced that forensic tests proved the forgery of the respective documents (issued in instead of 1978) and initially claimed that lack of the formal acquittal precluded Yanukovych from running for the seat in the 2006 parliamentary election.
thumb|Percentage of votes for the Party of Regions in the 2006 parliamentary election
However, the latter statement was corrected within days by Lutsenko, who conceded that the outcome of the investigation into the legality of the Yanukovych's acquittal could not affect his eligibility to run for the parliament seat since the deprivation of his civil rights due to the past convictions would have expired anyway due to the statute of limitations. Yanukovych's Party of Regions won the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election, and Yanukovych returned to premiership when he was appointed to the position of prime minister by Yushchenko in August 2006.
In 2006, a criminal charge was made for the falsification of documents regarding the retraction of Yanukovych's prior conviction. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta two documents had been forged regarding Yanukovych's robbery in association with rape and assault and battery. The signature of the judge for these documents in Yanukovych's retraction was also reportedly forged.<!--(Article 142 UK UkrSSR) --><!-- (Article 102 UK UkrSSR)-->
In the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election political forces supportive of Yulia Tymoshenko achieved a majority of votes, which resulted in her second appointment as Prime Minister on 18 December 2007.
2010 Presidential campaign and election
thumb|Supporters of Viktor Yanukovych in [[Dnipropetrovsk, December 2009]]
thumb|Percentage of total national vote for Yanukovych in the 2nd round of 2010 presidential election (48.95%)
In 2009, Yanukovych announced his intent to run for president in the then upcoming presidential election. He was endorsed by the Party of Regions and the Youth Party of Ukraine.
Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko accused Yanukovych of financial fraud during the campaign. Yanukovych's campaign was expected to have cost $100 to $150 million.
Early vote returns from the first round of the election held on 17 January showed Yanukovych in first place with 35.8% of the vote. He faced a 7 February 2010 runoff against Tymoshenko, who finished second (with 24.7% of the vote). After all ballots were counted, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission declared that Yanukovych won the runoff election with 48.95% of the vote compared with 45.47% for Tymoshenko. Election observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said there were no indications of serious fraud and described the vote as an "impressive display" of democracy. Tymoshenko withdrew her subsequent legal challenge of the result. Tad Devine, an associate of Rick Gates and Paul Manafort, wrote Yanukovych's victory speech.
Presidency: 2010–2014
Inauguration
Ukraine's parliament had (on 16 February) fixed 25 February 2010 for the inauguration of Yanukovych as president. Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree endorsing a plan of events related to Yanukovych's inauguration on 20 February 2010. Yushchenko also congratulated and wished Yanukovych "to defend Ukrainian interests and democratic traditions" at the presidential post.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus at Yanukovych's invitation conducted a public prayer service at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra before Yanukovych's presidential inauguration. Kirill also attended the inauguration along with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, United States National Security Advisor James Jones and speaker of the Russian parliament Boris Gryzlov.
Yanukovych's immediate predecessor, Yushchenko, did not attend the ceremony, nor did the Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, and her party, Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko.
First steps as president
thumb|With Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev, 5 March 2010]]
On 3 March 2010, Yanukovych suspended his membership in the Party of Regions as he was barred by the Constitution from heading a political party while president, and handed over leadership in the party and its parliamentary faction to Mykola Azarov. The predominant expectation of political experts following Yanukovych's election as president was that he would likely pursue a Kuchma-style "multi-vector" policy internationally, and that his presidential authority would be weakened as a result of the constitutional amendments made in 2004. However, those forecasts were made invalid by the swift concentration of power by the president and his Party of Regions, which some analysts interpreted as a parliamentary coup d'etat and made comparisons to the historical Nazi policies of Gleichschaltung.
Establishment of the Azarov government
thumb|Prime Minister Mykola Azarov soon after his appointment in April 2010
The Party of Regions and its satellites - the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Lytvyn Bloc - did not have a parliamentary majority in order to create a new government. The Ukrainian Constitution stipulated that a government should be created by a coalition of parliamentary fractions, not by individual members of parliament. Those amendments had been introduced in 2004 in order to limit political corruption. As a result, the only legal way for the Party of Regions to create a government was to establish a coalition either with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc or with Yushchenko's "Our Ukraine", or to announce early parliamentary elections.
However, Yanukovych and his supporters opted for a different way of forming a parliamentary majority: at the initiative of the Party of Regions, the parliament amended the law by allowing separate members of parliament to be accepted into the coalition on an individual basis, even if they belonged to opposition. As a result, the new "Stability and Reforms" coalition was formed by the fraction of the Party of Regions, Lytvyn Bloc and the Communists, as well as 12 members of parliament from the fractions of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and "Our Ukraine", including notable figures such as Ivan Plyushch, Oleksandr Omelchenko, Ihor Rybakov and Ihor Palytsia. The latter became known under the derogatory term tushky (, literally - "carcasses"). The way in which the new coalition was formed was deemed by observers to be illegal and anti-constitutional.
Despite controversy, Ukrainian lawmakers formed the new coalition on 11 March 2010 which included Lytvyn Bloc, Communist Party of Ukraine and Party of Regions that led to the Azarov Government. 235 deputies from the 450-member parliament signed the coalition agreement. The decision was approved by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and accepted by Western governments and the Ukrainian opposition, with the previous prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko agreeing to step down.
According to Roman Zabzaliuk, a former member of parliament from Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc, who later switched sides and entered the governing coalition, each individual parliamentarian joining the pro-Yanukovych faction in Verkhovna Rada was promised a one-time payment of $450,000 plus an additional monthly allowance of $20,000 in cash for "proper voting".
Concentration of power
thumb|[[No to police state demonstration in Kyiv, June 2010]]
Subordination of government branches
Within a few months, Yanukovych and his team had effectively subordinated all branches of Ukrainian government and marginalized the opposition. The new political regime was seen by some as a continuation of Leonid Kuchma's "blackmail state". Judiciary was de-facto subject to the authorities, with Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka himself openly claiming to be a member of the "president's team". This allowed authorities to selectively apply law to the political opposition. According to the newspaper Ukraina Moloda, half a year after Yanukovych's election Ukraine was closer to becoming a police state than it had ever been since independence.
The reform of administration launched during the first year of Yanukovych's presidency resulted in the reshuffling of a number of government agencies, but was also seen as a way to further concentrate power in the president's hands.
Constitutional amendments
On 25 June 2010, Yanukovych criticised 2004 amendments in the Ukrainian Constitution which weakened presidential powers such as control over naming government ministers, passing those functions to parliament.
In autumn of 2010 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine cancelled the 2004 amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution. This step was claimed to remove the last legal obstacle on the way to the complete concentration of power in President Yanukovych's hands. Nevertheless, during the 2011 World Economic Forum, Yanukovych called Ukraine "one of the leaders on democratic development in Eastern Europe".
In May 2012, Yanukovych set up the Constitutional Assembly of Ukraine, a special auxiliary agency under the President for drawing up bills of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine; the president then can table them in parliament.
Local elections
thumb|Results of the 2010 Ukrainian local elections, with regional and city councils dominated by the Party of Regions in blue
The local election, which took place on 31 October, was preceded by the introduction of changes in electoral law and replacement of local governors, electoral commission officials and national media managers with pro-government appointees.
During the electoral campaign for the 2010 local elections, the police encroached on the people's constitutional right for peaceful protest, the first such instance since the Orange Revolution. Independent journalists, scholars, activists and opposition figures were also harassed by state authorities, with a number of them being imprisoned or blackmailed into dropping their candidaces. In some cases, bogus political parties were created and registered under the same name as oppositional forces. As a result, Yulia Tymoshenko's "Batkivshchyna", the main rival of the incumbent authorities, was effectively denied participation in several crucial regions during the local election. This led to the rise of the far-right Svoboda party, whose popularity was mostly concentrated in Western Ukraine and produced less challenges to the Party of Regions on a national level.
According to independent observers, the election didn't meet standards for openness and fairness. As a result of the vote, the Party of Regions received a plurality of 36%, but got a chance to create a majority in many regions by co-opting independents and entering coalitions with other parties.
State of the rule of law
thumb|An anti-Yanukovych inscription on a fence in [[Luhansk, accusing the president of ties to organized crime, 2011]]
Yanukovych had been elected on promises of returning stability, but the state of Ukraine under his rule was described as a "well-ordered lawlessness" modelled on the "manageable democracy" of neighbouring Russia. Under Yanukovych's rule, chief organs responsible for security, most notably the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), were headed by oligarch appointees. Among controversial decisions which were deemed to have negative consequences to the rule of law in Ukraine was the release of FSB agent Vladimir Noskov, who had attempted to kidnap a Ukrainian security officer. The number of injuries and suspicious deaths reported as "suicides" significantly rose in Ukrainian prisons in the months after Yanukovych's installment.
Persecution of opposition
In December 2010 several opposition members of parliament were severely beaten by a group of Party of Regions members in the Verkhovna Rada building. Soon after the event one of the party's leaders Mykhailo Chechetov denied the fact of the assault and claimed that the opposition MPs "broke their own heads against the wall" and were now trying to accuse their opponents.
In early November 2011, Yanukovych claimed that "arms are being bought in the country and armed attacks on government agencies are being prepared." One frequently cited example of Yanukovych's attempts to centralize power is the 2011 sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko, which was condemned by Western governments as potentially being politically motivated. Other high-profile political opponents under criminal investigation include Kuchma, Bohdan Danylyshyn, Ihor Didenko, Anatoliy Makarenko, and Valeriy Ivaschenko.
According to Yanukovych (on 4 February 2011), "[M]any lies [have been] told and attempts made to misinform the international community and ordinary people in Ukraine about the true state of affairs in the country." He also stated, "[A] crushing blow delivered under [my] rule to corruption and bureaucracy has been met with resistance". He stated in February 2012 that the trial of Tymoshenko and other former officials "didn't meet European standards and principles".
Press censorship
upright 1.4|thumb|2014 [[Press Freedom Index
Ukraine moved from "noticeable problems" 89th place in 2009, to "difficult situation" 126th place in 2013]]
As president, Yanukovych stated in early February 2010 that he would support the freedom of speech of journalists and protect their interests. During spring 2010 Ukrainian journalists and Reporters Without Borders complained of censorship by Yanukovych's Presidential Administration; despite statements by Yanukovych how deeply he valued press freedom and that 'free, independent media that must ensure society's unimpeded access to information.'
Anonymous journalists stated early May 2010 that they were voluntarily tailoring their coverage so as not to offend the Yanukovych administration and the Azarov Government. The Azarov Government, the Presidential Administration and Yanukovych himself denied being involved with censorship. In a press conference 12 May 2010 President Yanukovych's representative in the Parliament Yury Miroshnychenko stated that Yanukovych was against political repression for criticism of the regime.
The first Year of Yanukovych's presidency saw a significant increase in the number of crimes against journalists, as reported by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. Many reporters would be illegally searched, detained and interrogated by authorities.
Vote rigging allegations
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe confirmed witness accounts of voters being blocked from access to polls and being attacked along with local election officials who tried to frustrate the Berkut's practice of falsifying voters' ballots in favor of Yanukovych's Party of Regions candidates. Individual cases have been reported of citizens grouping together and fighting back against the Berkut in order to preserve election integrity and results. Upon coming to power Yanukovych had reversed oversight measures established during the Yushchenko administration to restrain the Berkut's abuse of citizens whereupon the special force "upped its brutality."